4 Hacks To Explode Your Business When Working From Home (Even While Watching Your 2-Year-Old Son)

Being diagnosed with bilateral DVT’s and 5 clots blocking the arteries in my lungs (pulmonary embolism) was the best thing for my business. It finally allowed it to thrive and become what it was meant to be.

For years I was doing the 9-5 office thing, but due to my illness, I was forced to stop going. I was on bedrest for a couple months, and due to lingering issues and recurring health scares, I was forced to start working from home.

At first, I was scared, confused, nervous, and lost. I didn’t know how my business would succeed without me being at the office every day. Like most people, I assumed that being physically present at the office was necessary, but I was proven wrong.

With time, I discovered 4 hacks that exploded my business while working from home, even while watching my 2-year-old son.

Hack #1: Work Smarter, Not More

With constantly watching my 2-year-old son, it’s hard to get time to do any work. Some days I literally get to work on nothing. However the key I learned quickly is it really isn’t about the number of hours of work you put in, but what you actually accomplish during those hours.

At first, when I would finally get a chance to sit down, I would waste time wondering what I had to work on and would ultimately accomplish nothing. However, I began to skyrocket my productivity when I was prepared and knew exactly what I was going to work on the minute I had a chance to work.

In order to prepare, I make a detailed list on my phone of the things I need to work on, and during the day if something pops in my head I make sure to add to the list right away. Within this list, I make an order of relevance. Everything is prioritized of what I need to do now, and what can wait.

During work time the TV would be off, the radio would be off, the baby would be in bed, my wife would either be at work or doing something else. It was a time dedicated to solely to accomplishing what was on that list, and nothing else.

I learned how to work smarter and utilize my time more efficiently. This hack has allowed me to accomplish more within two hours a day than what I was accomplishing with eight hours a day when I was going to the office.

Hack #2: Focus On Your Strengths

Working from home means there is no team by your side to lend you a hand. You are all alone, just you, your computer (or whatever else you work with), and your knowledge. Many people think this means you have to learn everything and become a jack of all trades, but that is just not the case.

I learned the hard way that by trying to do everything on your own you spread yourself too thin and ultimately don’t accomplish anything. Over time, I realized that I would get more work done when I wasn’t trying to do everything on my own. Everything else that needed to get accomplished I learned to outsource elsewhere.

Outsourcing is when you pay someone else to do the task for you. There are literally millions of freelancers worldwide who are more than willing to do your task for you. I know that sounds scary at first, but a lot of these people do this full time and do nothing else but just special tasks, which makes them pretty good at what they do.

There are tons of reputable outsourcing sites where you can work with a freelancer worldwide, but two popular ones I use quite a bit are Fiverr.com and Upwork.com.

I’ve learned to harness all my focus on what I do best and to outsource the rest. Instead of trying to do 20 different things, I focus on maybe 5-10, and I give it my all.

This hack has allowed me to hire people from over 20 countries, get my businesses featured on Fox News, ABC News, NBC News, Huff Post and more, and allowed me to build a virtual team all while working from home.

Hack #3: Invest In Yourself

Warren Buffet, one of the world’s richest men, once said: “the best investment you can make, is in yourself”. It has taken me a long time to actually see first-hand the importance of what he was talking about.

No one who is willing to invest the time and resources in themselves is setting themselves up for failure. Investing in ourselves is literally expanding our capabilities and making ourselves more valuable. The more we learn, the better odds we give ourselves at actually succeeding.

Since working from home I’ve easily invested thousands of dollars in making myself more valuable. Not only monetarily, but I’ve also invested over 1,000 hours into educating myself and increasing my knowledge. Due to working from home I was forced to learn about internet marketing, emotional mindset, Facebook advertising, and much more which in turn has paid off exponentially.

I literally spent hundreds of hours studying email marketing. This was something that I wanted to learn myself and increase my knowledge and value. I studied blog case studies, templates, podcasts, books, magazines and invested money in email marketing software. This hack got me in direct correspondence with over a dozen Fortune 500 Executives and landed my company a partnership with Amazon.

Hack #4: Swing For The Fences

For those of you who are baseball fans, you understand what this phrase means. The phrase “Swing for the fences” is referenced to swinging with all your might in hopes to hit a home run. It means not to play it safe, but rather to take risks.

Working from home becomes very comfortable since it’s our safe environment, and this can create an attitude of always wanting to play it safe. Business is easier and less stressful if we are not always taking risks. However, taking risks is what got my company featured on national premium news outlets and what led to a lot of buzz. It played a major factor in the success that I currently enjoy today.

I’m not saying to go out there and get a million dollar loan for an idea you may have. However, I am saying that you are limiting your success if you get comfortable with your environment and are too afraid to take risks whether that be financial risks, emotional risks, time risks, or whatever it may be.

I took a risk and emailed Jeff Bezos directly (CEO of Amazon). Guess what, he didn’t respond. So, I emailed again, and he didn’t respond. I emailed again, and he didn’t respond. Emailing Jeff was an emotional and public risk. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I was willing to take this risk.

Finally, after about 8 emails, I finally got a response from someone on his behalf. They mentioned Jeff received my email, and directed them to send my inquiry to the proper channels. As mentioned earlier, this hack of taking risk also led to my company partnering with Amazon.

Final Thoughts

Learning these 4 hacks is absolutely essential when trying to grow your business from home. However, nothing will change or happen until you start using these hacks on your own. Learning them is good, but putting them in practice is great. That will be the difference maker for your business and ultimately give it that explosive growth that you desire.

I'm a two-time blood clot survivor. This experience pushed me to expand my capabilities and gain a passion for progression. Founder of Care Ultima and being featured on various news outlets nationwide.

I graduated from BYU-I at the age of 30, while simultaneously running a business, being a husband, and raising my two year old son.